Employment rate in 3rd quarter of 2021 at 60.3%

The employment rate in the third quarter of 2021 stood at 60.3% compared to 57.7% in the same quarter of 2020, data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service (CyStat) on Monday, show.

In particular, according to the results of the Labour Force Survey, the labour force in the 3rd quarter of 2021 amounted to 472,314 persons or 64.6% of the population (males 70.6%, females 59.0%) in comparison to 452,154 persons (62.9%) in the corresponding quarter of 2020.

The number of employed persons was 440,959 and the employment rate 60.3% (males 66.3%, females 54.8%) in comparison to 414,920 persons (57.7%) in the corresponding quarter of 2020.

The number of unemployed persons amounted to 31,355 and the unemployment rate to 6.6% of the labour force (males 6.1%, females 7.2%) in comparison to 37,234 persons (8.2%) in the corresponding quarter of 2020.

For the age group 20-64, the employment rate was 77.2%. The rate for males was 83.2% and for females 71.5%. In the corresponding quarter of 2020 the rate was 74.5% (males 81.4%, females 68.0%). For the age group 55-64 the employment rate was 65.5% in comparison to 61.9% in the corresponding quarter of 2020.

According to the distribution of employment by sector, the biggest percentage of employed persons was in Services (79.9%), followed by Manufacturing (17.3%) and Agriculture (2.8%). For the 3rd quarter of 2020, the corresponding percentages were: Services 77.3%, Manufacturing 19.8% and Agriculture 2.9%.

The share of part-time employment to total employment was 11.0% or 48,482 persons (males 9.4%, females 12.7%). The corresponding rate for the 3rd quarter of 2020 was 10.2% (males 7.9%, females 13.0%).

CyStat said that 88.1% or 388,296 of the total employed persons were employees, of which 13.0% (50,548 persons) had a temporary job. In the corresponding quarter of 2020 employees accounted for 86.1% of total employment of which 13.1% had a temporary job.

For young persons aged 15-24 years old, the unemployment rate was 14.5% of the labour force of the same age group (males 14.1%, females 14.9%) in comparison to 20.4% (males 30.2%, females 10.8%) in the corresponding quarter of  last year.

As far as the duration of unemployment is concerned, 42.8% of the total unemployed persons searched for a job for a period of less than 6 months, 24.3% for a period of 6-11 months, whereas a percentage of 32.9% were long-term unemployed. The corresponding rates for the 3rd quarter of 2020 were 53.3%, 19.6% and 27.1%.